


Original Ending - Not Easy being Me (Alternate Chapter 7)

by RunningOutsideTheLines



Series: Not Easy [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Ending, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:48:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24358327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RunningOutsideTheLines/pseuds/RunningOutsideTheLines
Summary: Original ending for Not Easy Being Me.  This is an alternate chapter 7 and wraps up the story of Draco trying to save his father.  NOTE: This does not wrap up the story of defeating Lord Voldmort.  That is still in progress.  If you need an ending, hopefully this will do until I get the longer version knocked out.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy & Lucius Malfoy
Series: Not Easy [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1758640
Kudos: 23





	Original Ending - Not Easy being Me (Alternate Chapter 7)

**Author's Note:**

> If you are hear I am assuming you have read chapters 1 - 6 of "Not Easy Being Me". If you have not done that I really recommend you do, since this is the last chapter of that story. It is not a stand alone. The only reason I am posting it like this is because I am re-writing and adding to that story. Once I get that finished this will probably go away.
> 
> As always I want to give HUGE credit to my beta Erin_Riwen. Her long suffering as I work through all of my drafts is legendary. Love you!

“You should have informed me immediately,” Lucius started lecturing before they made it off the grounds. “I expect you to maintain the high nobility of the Malfoy name, and when that name is threatened by such an indignity as being incorrectly sorted, it is mandatory that you reach out for assistance immediately.”

“Yes, father.”

Apparating to Malfoy Manor did not even slow him down. “To think that my son would be forced to suffer the indignity of dealing with Mudbloods and blood traitors. It is unacceptable.”

“Yes, father.”

It went on like that all the way up to his father’s office. By the time they walked in the door, Draco was nodding along mindlessly, not even listening. It was the sight of Tom Riddle’s diary sitting on the desk that pulled Draco out of the fog of disassociation.

“Where did you get that?” he asked, meeting his father’s gaze for the first time since they left the Great Hall.

“You are not returning to Hogwarts,” Lucius said, emphatically.

Draco reached out and touched the diary, trying to piece together how it could have come back into his father’s possession.  
“Voldemort sent it to you,” Draco guessed.

“Refer to him as Lord Voldemort, if you please,” his father corrected, avoiding the bigger issue.

“Did he threaten you?”

“Do not be ridiculous,” Lucius said.

A moment’s thought and then Draco asked, “Did he threaten me?”

Lucius swallowed carefully before attempting to answer which was enough confirmation for Draco.

“You can’t let him order you around.”

“You are not returning to Hogwarts,” Lucius turned away. “I have already contacted Durmstrang. They are properly excited to have a student from such a prestigious background and will make all the adjustments necessary due to your late entry.”

“You are sending me to Russia!? What did Voldemort say?”

“This is not up for discussion.”

“Why are you submitting to this? He is one man, not even a man anymore. What could you possibly have to gain?”

“I am protecting the family name from your unfortunate sorting,” Lucius shot back, his perfect calm exterior starting to unravel at the edges.

“This isn’t about me being a Gryffindor, and a Malfoy never bows to bullying and threats. Why are you allowing Voldemort to dictate to you?”

“Because I will not risk you!”

Draco and Lucius stared at each other across the desk as the shout rang between them. “You are my son,” Lucius said again, quietly, “and I will not risk you.”

It was painful. He needed to stop Voldemort. He needed to help Harry and Ron and Hermione, to be one of them.  
It was the knowledge of exactly what he had been willing to sacrifice to protect his family that held his tongue. He could not challenge his father for doing the same.

It was very, very painful.

“Alright, father,” Draco conceded. “I will prepare my things for Russia.” Turning for the door Draco could not resist one final plea. “Father, if Lord Voldemort is willing to threaten me to win your obedience, perhaps you should consider whether or not he is worth following.”

There was no answer and Draco did not expect one.

oOo

A tingle went off in the back of Draco’s mind, like circulation returning to a limb. Draco moved away from repacking his trunk with warmer clothes to glance out his bedroom window. Was that the Manor wards going off? Draco was no longer, and at the same time not yet, the head of the house. If it was the wards why was he even feeling it? Draco’s rooms looked out over the back of the estate. Seeing nothing there, he moved into the hall and looked out towards the front. One glance was all it took to chill his bones and he took off running for the Main Hall.

Harry and an older man who could only be Sirius Black stood just inside the wards on the front drive. The fool was here to ‘save him’ no doubt, and dragged the newly escaped convict along as transportation. Sirius was attempting to push his way back outside the wards, but once inside, when the Manor was at full strength and not under the attack of a legion of Aurors, you only left at the pleasure of the head of the house. Draco beat his father there by moments.

“Sirius Black,” his father’s voice oozed with satisfaction. “I was under the impression they had you locked away.”

Sirius had his wand out, ready to meet the threat, but his tone was almost casual when he said, “They don’t make prisons like they used to.”

“He didn’t do it!” Harry defended. “He was framed.”

“Escaped from prison and in the company of a minor who should be in school. What will the authorities say.”

“Father,” Draco protested.

“Draco, go back in the house.” Lucius did not take his eyes off Sirius, and he too had his wand in his hand.

“Father,” Draco tried again.

“Draco, you will do as I say immediately.” There was a stern warning in Lucius voice.

Never, not once in all his years had Draco ever willfully disobeyed his father. Almost by instinct he shifted back on his feet as though to turn and obey. The look in Harry’s eyes made him pause. It was not that Draco cared more for Harry than he did his father. Draco and Harry were friends, honestly Harry was the best friend Draco had ever had. But this was his father, the man he had suffered a year of indignities in the hopes of rescuing, the man he had come back in time to save, the center of Draco’s world. And it was that thought that strengthened his resolve. He needed to help Harry, to stand by him. To save his father, Draco had to do whatever it took. Looking at Harry, Draco found the courage to do what he had failed to do not a quarter hour before.

“Father, they are going to take down Voldemort, and we need to help them.”

Lucius’ eyes turned from Sirius to Draco. “Draco, this is not up for debate.”

Draco nodded even as he backed away from his father towards Harry. “It really isn’t. It’s what’s going to happen. They are going to take down Voldemort. It’s going to get ugly and awful and messy and a lot of wizards are going to die and it’s not going to matter if they are Pureblood or Mudblood or blood traitors because they are all going to die anyway.” Draco heard Harry’s sound of protest at the cruel terms he was throwing out, but he pushed on, relentless. “That’s what happens in a war, Father. People die. Voldemort is trying to start another war and I am going to do everything I can to help stop it. We are going to stop it.”

Everyone was staring at him with stunned expressions because he did not sound like an eleven year old boy who had spent his whole life spoiled and pampered. He sounded like exactly what he was, a war survivor.

“Draco …” Lucius trailed off and then started again. “You’re my son, I can’t let you be involved.”

“You are my father and the head of the family of Malfoy. It is your place to lead our family, to protect and build our reputation, to do whatever is necessary to defend us from those who would destroy us. Following Voldemort will destroy us, father. He’ll start with threats sweetened with promises of power and position that will never come. He has already started, hasn’t he? Isn’t that why you are sending me off, because he knows I stole the diary, because he threatened my life?”

Lucius dropped his eyes to the ground and it was answer enough.

“Is the man who will threaten your son really one you want to follow? Even if he does win, is whatever he has promised really worth having to serve under him for the rest of your life? Father, please. He already lost one war. We cannot afford to follow him into another one.”  
There were questions in Lucius’ eyes when he raised them, a hesitancy that had not been there when he had dropped his gaze. “You feel passionately about this,” Lucius said, in the soft voice he used when it was just the two of them.

“Yes, Father.”

Lucius nodded. “The strength of your convictions exceeds my own.” He paused. “I am not sure how this came to be, and we will discuss that, but for now I will accept that this is true. I did not come to be where I am because I was fighting for something, but because it was an easy path that appealed to me. That path does not appear so easy now and I must admit to some trepidation about the future.”

He paused again, and looked around at their audience. “I am not in favour of the company you are choosing to keep, my son, however …” He moved forward and placed two hands on Draco’s shoulders. “... I care deeply for you. If this is the path you are choosing then I will walk it with you.”

There were tears in Draco’s eyes as he wrapped his arms around his father’s waist. He had done it. Whatever the future held, whatever Voldemort’s fate, he had saved his father and his family.


End file.
